Little Lion Man
by iwillholdonhope
Summary: A musician's journey from playing for his family to playing for millions. Arthur reflects back while standing on stage. Friendship USUK Side pairing UKCAN slight fluff. Rating may go up.
1. Chapter 1

Arthur surveyed the crowd with a growing mixture of awe and pride. Strumming his guitar lightly as the mass of people cheered him on. Anticipation was thick in the air, and Arthur remembered the first time he even held a guitar in his hands.

How his best friend, Alfred, shoved the instrument into his hands and positioned his fingers, adamantly showing him his first cord; an off tune 'C'. Of course Alfred had to show him how to play first, throwing his arm into the air and bringing it down quickly, hitting the strings with a loud jumble of notes blending together. At the time, this was the only note that Alfred knew, thus the only note that Arthur could learn.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Iggy! Iggy! Artie! Arrrrrtie!" A voice bellowed through the empty garage, startling Arthur, who dropped his wrench onto his toe.

"Ow! Bloody… Alfred! Just pick a nickname and stick with it!" Arthur sighed getting up from repairing his bike tire that Alfred had popped the day before. "What do you want?"

Alfred skidded into the pavement, thrusting something large into Arthur's hands. Looking down, Arthur found a beat up leather case.

"We… are starting a band! " Alfred hopped from foot to foot in excitement and pointed a finger at Arthur "YOU are going to be the guitarist!"

Arthur just looked at his friend in confusion and then down to the case in his hands. Pulling a box over to Arthur, Alfred grabbed the case and placed it on the box as though it was the most precious thing in the world. Carefully opening the clips he raised the lid of the case and his smile widened. Arthur pushed his shoulder against his friends, wanting to get a look at the guitar in the case, and almost fell in the process as Alfred moved to the side completely.

"Dude! Look!" A hand flew through the air to land on the neck of the guitar "I will show you how to play a note first and then you can try!"

Lifting the guitar out of the case Alfred pulled the guitar strap over his head to rest on his shoulder. Placing his fingers on the worn down strings Alfred lifted his arm above his head. "This… is how you play a 'C'!" He then brought his hand down wildly across the strings making a low off tune cord ring out into the garage.

Smiling widely, Alfred took off the shoulder strap and thrust the guitar once more into Arthurs hands. Stumbling with the force of the guitar hitting his chest Arthur grabbed the strap and slid it around his shoulder. Grabbing Arthurs fingers, Alfred positioned them on the strings and slapped him on the back.

"Alright man! Just… play!" With that said, Alfred stepped back and watched Arthur.

Slightly lifting his hand Arthur let his fingers slowly slide across the strings. The note echoing in the air, as though it would never stop, that is would continue forever as Arthur just stood there as excitement ran through his veins. But of course Alfred was there, so he just took the strap off and put it back in the case. When he looked up at his friends face, it was to one of knowing. No matter what front Arthur put up, Alfred would always know what he was feeling.

Alfred knew that Arthur would continue to play into the early morning hours, learning more than that single note Alfred knew how to play. With one last glance at the guitar case, the two friends walked out of the garage.


	2. Chapter 2

The 'C' rang out among the cheering crowd in front of Arthur. His obnoxious friend might have started him on learning the guitar, but it was Arthur himself that began Alfred's addiction to the drums.

Arthur closed his eyes as the bass drum started a solid beat to match the tempo of his guitar, only to open them a second later to glare at the man behind the drum set. Alfred had started to pick up speed, and damn… why did he show Alfred that drum set all those years ago? He could have just walked by the stupid thing, and instead of Alfred playing the drums, who knows, he could be playing the flute… or something not so annoyingly Alfred.

/\/\/\/\

Apparently, English was not Alfred's forte, since words like 'whazza'?' 'whatevs' and 'for reals yo!' often riddled his vocabulary… and it was starting to piss Arthur off more today than it normally would. Try as he might, Arthur was unable to get Alfred to close his mouth for more than 10 seconds.

Looking up at the clock above Alfred's head, Arthur heaved out a sigh. Three hours since they sat down in the kitchen to have a bite to eat. Three hours since the boy in front of him had started talking, and by now, Arthur just wanted to grab his guitar and learn to play yet another cord.

Apparently a distraction would be needed.

Ten minutes later, Arthur was finally able to get a word in, and the two boys were heading down Main Street. Shops of all kind littered both sides of the street. Of course the candy shop had Alfred stepping in empty handed, and out again with enough sweets to last any normal kid two months.

As the two walked along even further, a shop caught Arthur's attention. A music store that had a shiny new drum set in the window. Wasn't there one of those in his basement?

"Hey, Alfred, lets go in there!" Arthur said as he dragged a candy munching Alfred behind him and through the doors.

Arthur came to a stop beside a drum set that was located in the middle of the store, drumsticks sitting on one of the drums, waiting for someone to come along and try it out.

"Well? What are you waiting for you git? Give it a go!" Pushing a confused Alfred towards the seat, Arthur waited for him to pick the sticks up, arms crossed.

"Oh, uh. Sure Iggy!" A grin and a pile of candy, was thrown in Arthur's direction, and Alfred sat down, picking the drumsticks up in the process. But of course, instead of doing something productive with the drumsticks, Alfred used his foot to lightly hit the pedal for the kick in front of him, making a low 'boom' interrupt the silence of the store.

The grin that was on Alfred's face previous turned into a blinding smile at the sound. One kick turned into another, a tap on the snare, and then it was just a store full of random noise. Arthur had to force the drumsticks from his hands when the owner of the store gave a disapproving glance over in their direction.

"Lets go Alfred, I think I have a set at home that you can mess around on." Guiding his friend out of the store, the two ran back to Arthur's house and down to his basement.

"Man Iggy! I am so coming over to play this every second of every day! Dude! This is so AWESOME!" Alfred scrambled around putting the drums into random positions, not knowing where they belonged.

"You and that drum set are not making anymore noise than necessary in my house, take it with you. I am sure my parents will not mind."

Alfred just nodded furiously and started banging on the drums with his hands. "Oh yeah! This is so sweet man!"


End file.
